Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog

A girl injured during a spleen surgery was awarded a settlement from the state funded by health care providers for her medical malpractice claim against the surgeon. While having her spleen removed, the doctor decided to remove it from small holes in her belly button. In order to remove a fist-sized spleen from a small hole he used a medical device to chop the spleen up in her body. During the process, he cut major blood vessels and even removed part of her bowel. This caused serious blood loss and brain damage, according to the allegations. The 8 year old girl is now confined to a wheelchair and is unable to communicate.

Read more about the medical malpractice settlement here.

A dental surgeon is charged with medical malpractice for allegedly erring while performing a procedural biopsy. The woman claims to have permanent nerve damage and loss of smile appearance from the dental malpractice. She also claims she can no longer smile without feeling pain. The woman’s plaintiff attorney has alleged the doctor used substandard care when performing her biopsy.

Read more about the dental malpractice case here.

An Illinois doctor was held liable for medical malpractice when she waited too long before calling for emergency back-up during a code-4 situation. The victim was involved in a motorcycle accident and had a tracheotomy tube. The tube became obstructed and he lost oxygen. An assistant discovered that he was not moving and alerted the defendant physician. According to the plaintiff’s attorney, the doctor delayed calling the code team who successfully removed the blockage. The delay in treatment deprived the patient of oxygen and caused serious setbacks in his recovery. Since the incident, the patient has had six corrective surgeries.A jury awarded the victim $2.1 million.

Read more about the Illinois medical malpractice case here.

The federal government is seeking over $1 million from two doctors who were negligent in the case of a former military diesel mechanic. According to a report, the victim suffered personal injuries in a series of surgeries performed by the doctors. These injuries ended his military career. After his injuries occurred, the victim received medical care at the Bethesda Naval Hospital. There, the government paid for the victim's medical care and wages. In the victim’s personal medical malpractice case, a jury recently found the doctors to be negligent and ordered them to pay $1.6 million to the victim. Read more about this federal medical malpractice lawsuit.

Five former patients of a urology center filed a medical malpractice lawsuit, alleging that the facility improperly used medical supplies on multiple patients, potentially exposing them to danger illnesses. According to a report, the center contacted 5700 patients to warn them of a risk of blood borne illnesses and suggested they get tested because the center misused single-use supplies. Five of the patients contacted filed the lawsuit together, claiming that the center knew this practice was improper but continually reused supplies anyway. To read more about this medical malpractice lawsuit click on the link.

A Chicago doctor, is being sued “for allegedly botching a circumcision of a 1-day-old baby and cutting off a portion of the infant’s penis,” according to a Chicago news article. The infant had to have emergency surgery to correct the medical error. The infant’s father is suing the Northwestern Memorial doctor for medical malpractice.

Read more about the Chicago medical malpractice suit here.

A defending doctor contradicted expert testimony in a medical malpractice suit. The experts claimed a patient died from “several treatment errors” including the doctor’s surgery, according to an article. The medical lawsuit claims the doctor misdiagnosed the patient that led to sepsis, an infection that spreads into the blood stream. The experts claimed a reasonable doctor would have diagnosed the patient more quickly which ultimately would have helped her survive.

Read more about the delayed diagnosis here.

Chicago medical malpractice lawyer Steven Levin recently settled a case for $1 million on behalf of a Chicago boy who suffered brain damage and hearing loss when a doctor failed to diagnose his meningitis. The boy, now 10 years old, was only 8 months old when the injury occurred. His parents took him to the pediatrician twice and on both visits the doctor failed to recognize that he had pneumococcal meningitis. It was not until he had multiple seizures and was taken to the emergency room that doctors diagnosed his condition. As a result of this delayed diagnosis, he suffered brain damage and hearing loss. Since the boy was so young at the time of his injury, his attorneys had to wait for his medical conditions to develop so that they could truly understand the effects of this mistake. A Cook County judge ordered the medical malpractice settlement on April 15, 2009.

Malrotation is an “abnormal alignment of the bowels that can cut off blood flow to the intestines,” according to the article. Doctors told a woman not to worry when they misdiagnosed her baby's conditions. They assumed the baby was only spitting up when he really suffered from malrotation. According to the article, “treatment is often delayed because parents and pediatricians mistake the symptoms for those of other, less serious conditions.” This condition is fatal. Failure to diagnose medical conditions often leads to medical malpractice suits.

Read more about diagnosing this medical condition here.

A man was awarded $25 million dollars in a medical malpractice suit against a hospital after the hospital allegedly delayed critical care after brain surgery. When the man complained to the hospital’s doctor that he suffered from frequent headaches, he was given a CT scan. The scan showed a colloid cyst on his brain. Instead of treating the cyst, the doctor prescribed pain medication. A few days later an MRI showed the man had an aneurism near the cyst in the brain. The jury found the doctor negligent.

Read more about the delay of critical care here.

A doctor accused of sleeping with his patient must pay $416,500 in damages according to a recent jury ruling. The woman filed a medical malpractice suit against the doctor for allegedly violating his duty of care “by engaging in the sexual relationship while treating her for depression,” according to the article. The woman sought the doctor’s medical expertise for her depression and counseling after her daughter was diagnosed with cerebral palsy.

Read more about the medical malpractice suit here.

Forsberg v. Edward Hospital and Services, No. 2-08-0243 (4-8-09) affirmed that although a Section 2-622 report is not automatically excluded from use by plaintiff to rebut defendant's motion for summary judgment in medical malpractice action, the 2-622 report attached to the plaintiff's complaint does not satisfy the requirements of SCR 191, since the report relies on records that are not attached. Further, the common knowledge and "captain of the ship" doctrines are not sufficient to overcome defendant's affidavits that he justifiably relied on sponge count of nursing staff to insure that no sponge was left in plaintiff before he left operating room after lumpectomy. Therefore, defendant is entitled to summary judgment dismissing plaintiff's complaint. This case will greatly impact medical malpractice cases.

Kaiser Permanente’s kidney transplant program recently settled five medical malpractice cases for a total of $1 million. The program is no longer in operation. A medical malpractice lawyer who handled the case says that the state’s medical malpractice laws are to blame for the small settlement. According to the lawsuit, the program “failed to provide transplant kidneys on a timely basis” to three patients who later died as a result of this negligence. In a fourth incident of medical negligence, the program delayed one victim’s kidney transplant after improperly refusing a donor. The lawsuit also alleges that another victim’s body rejected their transplant because the program did not provide the appropriate care after the transplant. Each of the victims suffered due to negligence on the part of the transplant program. Read more about these medical malpractice cases.

A 45-year-old woman has filed a medical malpractice complaint against a gynecologist who allegedly removed the wrong ovary during surgery. The complaint also alleges that the doctor then tried to cover-up this surgical error. According to reports, the doctor diagnosed the victim with a mass on her right ovary and recommended surgery to remove the entire ovary to prevent future cancer. During surgery, the doctor mistakenly removed the left ovary and then fabricated that she did so because she discovered a cyst on this ovary. Tests revealed that this was not true and the lawsuit alleges the doctor tried to cover up her mistake by falsely recording the presence of the cyst.

Read more about this medical lawsuit by following the link.

In 2005, a woman went into surgery to relieve pain in her right arm. During the cervical discectomy procedure, the surgeon negligently hit the victim’s spinal cord with a bone plug, causing her to lose all feeling and movement from her chest down. This surgical error left her permanently disabled and altered her life forever. Recently, medical malpractice attorneys brought her suit to court and a jury awarded her over $10 million for pain and suffering, compensatory and noneconomic damages.

Read more about this medical malpractice lawsuit by following the link.

A pediatric resident has scared three different Chicago hospitals after being diagnosed with tuberculosis. Thus far, there have been no detections of the tuberculosis spreading. The Chicago Department of Public Health claims this is a good sign that the bacterial disease had not spread. This does not mean the scare is over. Tuberculosis can take up to ten weeks to be detected, according to the article. Patients are being contacted for screening who may have come in contact with the infected pediatric resident.

Read more about the TB hospital scare here.

A woman filed a hospital negligence suit when a medical mistake led her to seek an abortion. The woman claims, while working as a nurse at the hospital, the medical staff failed to inform her she was pregnant after taking a test before she had a heart procedure. According to the complaint, the procedure exposed pre- and post-operative drugs which raised serious risks to the fetus. The hospital settled with the woman but the amount was kept confidential.

Read more about the hospital settlement here.

A man was allegedly injured when he was being transferred from his wheelchair to a dialysis machine by a Hoyer Lift apparatus. The man suffered a fractured hip, bruises, other injuries, and died several months later. His widow brought a claim against the medical center for medical negligence. The lower courts originally held against the widow but the Supreme Court of that state reversed their decision. The woman will have another try seeking damages against the medical center.

Read more about the alleged medical injury here.

Recently, a pediatrics resident at Northwestern Hospital in Chicago was diagnosed with tuberculosis, an infectious disease of the lungs that can often to lead to death. Since last fall, the resident has worked at three hospitals in the Chicago area and has come into contact with hundreds of co-workers and young patients. The hospitals are now trying to track down the patients so that they can be tested for the disease. As of April 12, no new cases of tuberculosis had been found in those that were tested, however that was a very small sample of the patients exposed. To read more about this tuberculosis scare follow the link.

Each year, hundreds of medical malpractice lawsuits are filed due to hospital-borne illnesses. When hospitals are negligent in preventing patients from being exposed to dangerous diseases and infections, the consequences can be devastating. If you believe that you or a loved one has suffered injury or death as a result of medical negligence, please call Levin & Perconti at312-332-2872 to discuss your case with a medical malpractice attorney.

A woman filed a medical malpractice complaint against her hospital after she claims to have suffered a mechanical skin sheer injury when a nurse negligently pulled a bed sheet that had adhered to her buttocks from under her. The woman had undergone a successful back surgery, but according to the patient had failed to reposition her every two hours to prevent the injury. She also claims the nurses should have known she was prone to injury due to her surgical pain, being on medication, decreased mobility, and age-related skin changes.

Read more about the medical malpractice complaint here.

A jury found two doctors negligent when they performed an almost fatal abdominal surgery on a United States soldier. The jury awarded the soldier and his wife $1.6 million for the medical malpractice suit. They also awarded the hospital that repaired the doctors’ mistake enough to cover the medical expenses provided.

Read more about the medical malpractice verdict here.

A previous army nurse, who at the time was currently working as a civilian, at an Army hospital allegedly infected at least 15 patients with hepatitis C. The allegedly negligent nurse poured medication into an infected container he brought from home for patients. The nurse is facing 20 years in prison if convicted.

Read more about the alleged medical infection here.

A negligent obstetrician severed off 30-40% of a baby boy’s penis when conducting a circumcision. The baby’s pediatrician was also named negligent in the medical malpractice suit because she had failed to examine the boy after the injury in which the severed piece could have been reattached. The damage takes into account the disfiguring and disabling injury that will last the boy his entire lifetime. The jury awarded the mother of the boy $2.3 million in damages.

Read more about the negligent circumcision here.

An Indiana surgeon with a practice in Chicago’s suburbs has fled to Greece after being found guilty of medical malpractice by a panel of three physicians. The man was found guilty of medical negligence after misdiagnosing a patient. He diagnosed the patient as requiring sinus surgery when in turn the patient died of throat cancer.

Read more about the fugitive surgeon here.

A birth injury is when the direct cause of a baby’s medical complications is directly caused by the delivery procedure. Birth injuries are often the fault of medical malpractice. If during the delivery the procedure involved substandard or less than adequate medical care a person may have a claim for medical malpractice. If this sounds like your case, contact a medical malpractice attorney in your area.

Read more about medical malpractice birth injury claims here.

According to a patient of Gregory and Musick Dermatology, a doctor failed to diagnose her basal cell carcinoma. After visiting the doctor on two different occasions, carcinoma on her left facial cheek was detected. The woman claims the failed diagnosis has caused her additional surgery and has suffered disfigurement and disability. In her complaint, she alleges the doctor was medically negligent when he failed to diagnosis her condition and failed to refer her to anyone else for treatment.

Read more about the failed diagnosis here.

A man’s death brings a lawsuit against a hospital and doctor for lack of treatment. The deceased’s family alleges that when he was admitted to the emergency room at the hospital for a fever the doctor failed to diagnose the man for an ulcer that developed. According to his family, the failed diagnosis brought the man pain, suffering, and ultimately his death.

Read more about the alleged failed diagnosis here.

An orthopedic surgeon was found medically negligent performing a total knee replacement. The knee replacement resulted in seven more surgeries in a period of only two and a half years. The patient still suffers from a chronic pain syndrome and was unable to return to his job. He was awarded $1 million by a jury in a civil lawsuit.

Read more about the negligent surgeon here.